“Hey now.” Logan leans over and kisses my head. “Don’t water the painting. I don’t know how to talk to you right now, Macey. I don’t know how to tell you that I …”
But I look into his eyes, and I know. I know what we’ve shared, what we’ve been through together, and I know that he knows it, too. And in this moment, that’s enough.
61
Logan
* * *
Macey falls asleep on my shoulder.
I grab the afghan and cover us with it.
This quiet moment would be an ordinary night for most couples, but it feels extra precious somehow.
I can’t stop thinking about what Macey said earlier.
I thought about what it would be like if we…if we tried dating. I was going to ask you, but…
I never thought I could be happy in a relationship. What Macey and I had wasn’t perfect but it worked for us. We were always in sync.
And it feels like we still are.
Because I want the same thing she does—I want us to try spending more than one night a year together.
I call out her name a few times, but she’s out like a light. She always was a heavy sleeper.
And I take advantage. For the next half hour, I pour out my heart to her.
I tell her everything.
I confess that I don’t love Gigi and that we’ve never even kissed. And that the reason why we married is complicated.
I explain how Gigi’s inheritance she’s due to come into when she turns twenty in six months has an old-fashioned sexist clause in it that prevents her from taking any of the money unless she’s married. She didn’t trust any of the men in her social circle, didn’t believe they wouldn’t try to blackmail her or take advantage of the situation some other way because of her father’s power and influence. She thought they’d also want a piece of her inheritance.
I promised her I didn’t want anything other than to make sure Benjamin Henwood never has to go to jail or lose his family business. She said she could get that done, that her father was not really a bad man at heart and that he would drop his plan out of respect to a son-in-law. And that she’d get his promise in writing prior to us marrying.
She also said she’d make sure that whatever evidence and legal documents her father had put together would be permanently deleted before we end our marriage.
So, once our agreement was in place, the two of us went to work. We agreed that we’ll divorce after six months due to irreconcilable differences, and that will be the end of it.
Gigi checked the fine print of her inheritance with a private attorney to make certain she didn’t have to stay married for one minute longer than it takes her to get that money deposited into her account.
She wouldn’t have to return it due to a divorce under any circumstances other than fraud.
And fraud is what we’re committing with this marriage. That’s why we can’t breathe a word of our plan to anyone.
I brush a stray hair off Macey’s soft cheek, and she sighs in her sleep.
And I whisper, “Macey, in order for this plan to work, I have to stay quiet. Even though it’s killing me to keep it from you. Even though it breaks my heart to see the pain in your eyes every time you see me with Gigi and you think I don’t notice you looking.
“I always notice you, Macey. I always will. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure you don’t have to keep paying for your father’s sins.
“Just like you did for me.”
62
Macey
